Jaylon Smith giving Cowboys fans reason for hope

When Jaylon Smith was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys with the 34th pick in April's draft, many people had the same reaction: happy for the former Notre Dame linebacker whose college career was cut short by a devastating knee injury, but confused about why Jerry Jones would use such a high pick on a player who might not be able to play this year.

"He's doing a great job with his rehab. He's made strides," coach Jason Garrett told ESPN. "The other part with that is that when he's not directly engaged with the team he has to keep himself engaged, in meetings, when he's involved in a walkthrough setting, to be able to watch that and see what's going on and learn as much football as he can from the position that he's in. Line 1 for him is to get healthy. He's working very hard at that."